juha: I just don't get it... what's wrong with competition? Do you like paying through your nose for basic phone services? Or should phone/internet connections be reserved for a few rich people and big businesses in NZ only?

In the UK they are now seeing "free broadband" from the likes of www.talktalk.co.uk, www.orange.co.uk, www.sky.co.uk to name but three. Broadband is being seen as an opportunity to sell value added services. This is why the like of woosh are looking at IPTV etc. etc. LLU provides the opportunity to cut out the middle man (i.e. Telecom). Vodafone and Telstraclear are positioning themselves for the triple play and possibly 4-play. This will initially happen in the metropolitan areas but it will ripple out to rural areas later probably by wimax.

Politicians have a job to do. If you dont like what they are doing then lobby them! Write to them, email them and telephone them. Stop whinge-ing from the sidelines take a role in the democratic process and do something positive.